This application relates to a retainer element for holding turbine blades in a turbine rotor disk slot.
Gas turbine engines are known and typically include a compressor for compressing air. The compressed air is delivered into a combustion chamber, mixed with fuel and combusted. Products of this combustion pass downstream over turbine rotors, driving the rotors to rotate.
The turbine rotors typically carry a number of turbine blades which are precisely designed, and include a root with a number of ears which interfit in slots in a rotor disk. In some applications, the blades are simply slid into the slots.
The disks are subject to high temperatures, high speed rotation, and it is important to keep the turbine blades properly positioned on the disks. For this reason, various retainer elements have been developed. However, there are deficiencies in each of these retainer elements.